ROS2 Docker Launcher

Overview

A developer tool that simplifies the setup and deployment of ROS2 (Robot Operating System 2) environments using Docker containers. This tool eliminates the complexity of manual ROS2 installation and configuration by providing automated setup scripts that work across different operating systems. It includes GUI support through X11 forwarding, making it ideal for robotics development and testing.

Code Highlight

services:
  ros2:
    build: .
    image: robot:latest
    container_name: ros2
    volumes:
      #- .:/home
      - {PWD}:/home
      - /tmp/.X11-unix:/tmp/.X11-unix:rw
      - {XAUTHORITY}:{XAUTHORITY}
    working_dir: /home
    environment:
      - DISPLAY={DISPLAY}            # this is for X11 or XWayland
      - WAYLAND_DISPLAY={WAYLAND_DISPLAY}  # this is for Wayland sessions
      - QT_QPA_PLATFORM=xcb           # Explicitly tell Qt to use XCB
    stdin_open: true
    tty: true
    command: bash && pwd && colcon build
}

Performance Metrics

Challenges

• 1Handling X11 forwarding across different operating systems
• 2Managing Docker networking for ROS2 communication
• 3Creating a user-friendly CLI interface for complex operations

Outcomes & Impact